Leeds United will once more have to overcome the odds if they are to reach the European Cup final.

Streetwise Valencia will start favourites in Spain after holding United 0-0 in the semi-final first leg at a super-charged Elland Road last night.

But David O'Leary's team have upset Europe's aristrocrats so often this season that a place in the final in Milan on May 23 remains a possibility.

It will be a massive task in the Mestella Stadium against a side which has won all its previous five European semi-finals and is unbeaten at home in European competition for a decade.

Skipper Rio Ferdinand's injury-time goal-line clearance ensured Leeds kept a clean sheet which may yet prove to be as valuable as his £18million transfer fee as a scoring draw next Tuesday will see Leeds through.

Having taken a real battering for much of the second half Valencia finished strongly in the dying minutes.

John Carew miscued a good opportunity wide after the impressive Gazizka Mendieta picked out the tall Norwegian striker with a header into the box.

Then with the final attack of the game substitute Vicente Rodriguez sent in a dipping shot which Ferdinand headed off the line.

Had it gone in it would have been cruel on Leeds, who matched Valencia in the first half and dominated them for most of the second period.

Valencia may not possess a single outstanding world star like their La Liga rivals Barcelona, who have the gifted Rivaldo, or Real Madrid's Luis Figo, but they proved physically strong and mentally tough in a tense encounter.

After Ian Harte tested Santiago Canizares' fingertips with a free-kick, Nigel Martyn needed to be alert to keep out a spectacular overhead kick by Carew on 12 minutes after Juan Sanchez's surge down United's left flank.

Leeds were showing signs of nerves in defence early on and were nearly caught out when Mendieta's header looped against the bar.

A game of cut-and-thrust unfolded but Leeds should have taken the lead just after the half-hour mark when Smith glanced a close- range header wide of

Canizares' right-hand post from five yards.

Ferdinand and Dominic Matteo were getting the measure of the Spaniards' attack, but just before the break Ferdinand misdirected a header which fell to Ruben Baraja, but his powerful shot was superbly saved by Martyn.

Leeds increased the tempo after half-time as they attacked the Don Revie Stand end and came within a whisker of scoring when Lee Bowyer flicked on Harte's corner from the left and Matteo soared in at the back post only to see his header clawed away superbly by Canizares on the goal-line.

Smith whistled in a volley as the fans pumped up the volume and Leeds cranked up the pressure, bringing yellow cards for Baraja and Amedeo Carboni

which rule them out of the second leg.

For all their possession Leeds could not quite find their cutting edge but again came close when Canizares found himself in no- man's land. Smith chipped the ball over the 'keeper and the ball popped up at the far post

where it hung in the air for an age before Bowyer headed it against the bar.

O'Leary has often described this European campaign as a "Big Adventure".

Another chapter remains to be written, but will it be the final one?

Updated: 12:55 Thursday, May 03, 2001